KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 29 JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET, met with members of the media at Michigan International Speedway and discussed racing Truck and Cup at Michigan, racing at Bristol, the wild card for the Chase and other topics.
HOW ARE YOU FEELING? “Got a little head cold but nothing big.”
TALK ABOUT YOUR DOUBLE-DUTY (TRUCKS AND CUP) HERE AT MICHIGAN: “It never hurts to have laps at any given race track no matter what it is in. I don’t know that there will be much transfer from vehicles as far as setups or anything because the trucks are so close to wide-open around here. It’s just a fun race track to race and that is why we are racing the truck this week.”
IT SEEMS LIKE RON HORNADAY HASN’T HAD THE KIND OF SEASON HE USUALLY DOES, ARE YOU CONCERNED? “It’s been a terrible year. They haven’t done a very good job. I don’t necessarily know if that’s Ron’s fault. They continue to work on it and try to make it better.”
WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING FROM YOUR WEEKEND HERE AT MICHIGAN? “We expect to run well and be in contention for the win. Last time we didn’t run quite as well as we thought we should have. We did some things differently that what we had done last year at this particular point. They built us a new car to come here and try to do the things right that we thought we did wrong. It’s been a decent race track for us over the past couple of years and I think as we move forward through the weekend, I hope that is the same thing that we have our minds is that we are running well and doing the things we thought we should have done.”
IS THIS WILD CARD SITUATION GOING TO BE INTERESTING TO WATCH THESE LAST FEW RACES BEFORE THE CHASE? “It is fun to watch already. I think the wild card stuff has added a great new element to the last couple of spots. With all the different winners this year, it has made it even more interesting because of how many guys have won. It has been fun to watch. Glad I’m not in the middle of it. We’ve been there before, but, I’m glad we’re not in the middle of that fighting for our life.”
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT BRISTOL AT NIGHT? “We haven’t really figured that out yet since the new banking and the new track design was put into place. We haven’t run great. We’ve run ok, but we haven’t got the notebook that says you need to do this. So we’re still searching a little bit there.”
DO YOU LIKE THE NEW BRISTOL OR THE OLD ONE BETTER? “I definitely like the old one better. The new one is pretty easy. There is a lot of room to race. Two totally different animals.”
WHAT IS IT LIKE TO RACE THERE (BRISTOL) UNDER THE LIGHTS? “It is a lot different than it used to be. Obviously that race for years has been the hardest ticket in our sport to get. I don’t necessarily know that is the way it still is. It seems like the Saturday night race there always brings out something exciting.”
ANY THOUGHTS ON THE EXPECTED ANNOUNCEMENT OF DANICA PATRICK TO RUN FULL TIME IN NATIONWIDE SERIES NEXT YEAR? “Didn’t that come out last week? I think if that is what she is going to do, I think that is great for our sport. Danica is a good person and wants to race and wants to do the things that it takes to be successful. But, as far as the sport in general, it is really good for us.”
HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN THE STATE OF YOUR TEAM THAT YOU CAN CONTEND IN THE CHASE? “I don’t have any issues with our team. Obviously it is going to come down to performance as far what you do right and what you do wrong. Every mistake, everything that happens counts in the Chase. You can get away with things right now, but, you won’t get away with them over the last 10 weeks. You just have to do everything right.”
YOUR CARS ARE UP TO THE TASK, IT IS JUST A MATTER OF EXECUTING? “I think so.”
WHEN DO YOU NEED TO RAMP UP THAT CHAMPIONSHIP MOMENTUM? “It seems like in the past, we’ve always ramped it up to get in the Chase. It doesn’t really matter. Once you are in, you have to ramp it up when you get to Chicago and that’s where the next step starts, so you have to take it one week at a time. You have to have things going your way when Chicago starts. If you have something go wrong, you have to figure out to make it right and you have to get stuff going. I’d say the guys that are up in the top-10, their attitudes will change. Our attitudes will change a lot and it won’t be so relaxing here in a few weeks.”
ARE YOU GOING TO DRIVE THE BUDWEISER CLYDESDALE WAGON AROUND? “I know Richard is.”
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